Integrity of Trade Union
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by: Jj
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Following are the excerpts from 'The Hindu' regarding the run down in the Maruthi Udyog Manesar plant. There is a lesson that is to be learnt for the Management as well as the Employees.
Jj.
Gone in 50 seconds
On most days in this industrial suburb of Delhi, a phalanx of robotic arms weld sheets of pressed steel into silvery monocoque body shells that emerge from the paint shop in shades of arctic pearl white, glistening grey, blazing red and midnight black. A conveyor belt pulls the candy-coloured shells past 369 workstations, where men armed with whirring tools install engines, doors, windshields, and wiring.
Then there are days when the assembly line grinds to a halt, production comes to a standstill, Maruti's half-year profits plummet by 60 per cent and market share shrinks to 39.5 percent. Last week, Maruti released sales figures for what must count as a financial quarter from hell. Tensions between the management and labour had resulted in production losses of approximately 83,000 cars, resulting in a shortfall of about $500 million, according to a Reuters report.
Workers said that mistakes multiply as the speed of the line increases, work intensity spikes and workers spend less time on each car. But the management feels that productivity is independent of work intensity. One gets the impression that eight hours of intense physical work is seen as the ceteris paribus of the assembly line. Given these eight man hours of work, productivity is determined by algorithms that plot variables like the pattern in which different car models are made, the length of line, the number of workstations. “The speed of a line is a design issue. A worker works for eight hours everyday. The line is designed so that the worker can safely fix a part, rest and resume work on the next car in the allotted time,” Mr. Roy said.
For a worker, line acceleration can be a harrowing experience. “When I first began working for Maruti, assembly lines used to run right through my dreams,” said a worker with a laugh, “These days I suppose I'm so tired that I don't get dreams anymore.”…………
An assembly line is a complex manifestation of the man-hour-work problems encountered in high school mathematics. Workers stand at stations in a giant covered shed as partially built cars glide by on a moving conveyor; workers step onto the conveyor, fit a specific part, step off and walk back to the front of the workspace to wait for the next car.
“[Prior to the worker occupation] we were under intense pressure to withdraw our application for the union… the line was moving too fast… there were no relieving workers,” said Pradeep Foggat, a Maruti worker and one of the leaders of the proposed Maruti Suzuki Employees Union, adding that a Maruti worker spends 8 hours on the assembly, and breaks twice for a 7.5 minute tea break and once for a 30 minute lunch break. Those who arrive a minute after the shift's scheduled commencement are fined half a day's salary.
On Saturday October 29, soon after the most recent settlement between workers and the management, this correspondent and a photographer were given permission to observe the Manesar factory floor under the supervision of the plant's general manager P.K. Roy. Workers were interviewed outside the factory premises where they could speak freely.
The issue of wages was never raised during the strike, but two statements reveal the gulf between a management wedded to a particular idea of efficiency and productivity and workers exhausted by the regimentation of factory life. “Indiscipline is not tolerated,” said Suzuki Chief Osamu Suzuki at a meeting with MUKU representatives. “Authoritarianism will not be endured,” said an anonymous worker in Faridabad Mazdoor Samachar, a workers broadsheet.
This summer, a dispute over the establishment of an independent union in Maruti's Manesar plant exploded, as workers seized control of the Manesar plant triggering a five month standoff with the management. Workers felt that the recognized Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (MUKU) was too compliant with the management. A company spokesperson told The Hindu that the management felt that multiple unions would lead to “competitive union politics”.
“Prior to the troubles we were making about 1070 cars a day,” said the spokesperson “At present we are making about 800 cars a day.”
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